Pope Francis calls for action on migration during France visit

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23rd Sep, 2023. 08:02 pm
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Pope Francis urges European nations to show greater tolerance towards migrants.
Migration is a reality of our times, not an emergency, says Pope.
Pope calls for legal and regular entrance of migrants, especially those fleeing war, hunger, and poverty.

During his visit to the southern French city of Marseille, Pope Francis urged European nations to display greater tolerance towards migrants.

He made this call while addressing a gathering of bishops and young individuals from Mediterranean countries.

The pontiff emphasized that those who embark on perilous sea journeys are not engaging in an invasion. Among those in attendance for his speech was French President Emmanuel Macron.

This call for tolerance coincides with renewed discussions on migration sparked by a significant influx of arrivals on the Italian island of Lampedusa just last week.

Notably, France’s Interior Minister, Gerald Darmanin, who welcomed the Pope to Marseille, stated that the country would not accept migrants arriving from Lampedusa.

According to the UN’s International Organization for Migration, approximately 8,500 individuals arrived on Lampedusa aboard 199 boats between Monday and Wednesday of the previous week.

Pope Francis said on Saturday that migration was not an emergency, but rather “a reality of our times, a process that involves three continents around the Mediterranean and that must be governed with wise foresight, including a European response”.

“There is a cry of pain that resonates most of all, and it is turning the Mediterranean, the ‘mare nostrum’, from the cradle of civilization into the ‘mare mortuum’, the graveyard of dignity: it is the stifled cry of migrant brothers and sisters,” he said, using Latin terms meaning “our sea” and “sea of death”.

He also called for “an ample number of legal and regular entrances” of migrants, particularly those fleeing war, hunger, and poverty, rather than on “preservation of one’s well-being”.

The Pope’s comments reiterated his message from Friday, emphasizing that it is a fundamental responsibility of humanity to come to the aid of migrants who are making perilous attempts to cross the Mediterranean.

The 86-year-old Pope cautioned governments against what he referred to as the “fanaticism of indifference” and the “paralysis of fear.”

He stressed that it is imperative to rescue individuals who are in danger of drowning when left adrift on the open sea.

In a show of strong support, thousands of people lined the streets of Marseille to witness his procession through the city.

The primary purpose of his visit to Marseille was to participate in the concluding session of the Mediterranean Meetings event, which addressed topics such as migration, economic inequality, and climate change.

Pope Francis’s visit to Marseille marked a historic occasion, as it was the first visit by a pope to the city, France’s second-largest, in over 500 years.

During his visit, he held a private meeting with President Macron and is scheduled to conduct a Mass at the Velodrome stadium before departing for Rome later on Saturday.

Pope Francis calls for action on migration during France visit

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